Deader than my love life.

Unfortunately those folks at Kerry H.Q. just don't get it. They shouldn't be answering Zell et al. with vague drivel like "Don't question my record". Now is the time to go weapons system by weapons system and explain why he voted against it. Times change, if he did this, he would probably get a pass by a populace that has Bush fatigue.

Also, he needs to make the debate more specific on defense. How much control do folks in the field get? What about Iran and N. Korea? What about intelligence inform? How would you get France, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to consistently pull their weight (each has different reasons for not cooperating at certain points, I'm not lumping them together)? How many units would be sent to clean up Afghanistan?

On the economy, Kerry should have gone straight deficit cutter and run to the right of Bush. He could still keep Democrats in line by vowing to consider new programs after the midterms.

Also, I hold all Democrats who voted for Kerry responsible for the coming debacle.

Prediction today: Bush 300 Kerry 238

RNC 4: The Quest for an Agenda

Sanctum Santorum- best rhetoric of any Republican. But Santorum talking about love is ironic and kinda naughty. I thought that when he started talking about family that the wheels were going to come off of the bus. I was wrong. Hot rhetoric but very concise speech. I wanted to mock him but this was decent and will increase appeal. grade: A-

M. Regan-Does the fact his birth parents had him and gave him up for adoption mean they were necessarily pro-life? (This isn't a dig, it's an honest question). Nice immigrant story. Stale rhetoric. grade: C+

Regan video: The morbid funeral fascination doesn't work. They should have shown classic clips. grade: D

Beans n' Franks-standard, not special speech. Grade: C

Video: Thompson rocks, too much 9/11. Cheesy dialog. grade:B

Nice reveal to W, that was well done.

W part 2: Revenge of the Son: Good intro. "Nothing will hold us back" is a creepy catch phrase. "Government should improve lives not run them". Heh. Small firm plan is good. Environmentalists should love this speech because most of the ideas were recycled. I hate the Foxworthy construction. Beginning was good but it lapsed into a W speech. grade: B

Overall: W didn't light his podium on fire and Santorum didn't start talking about anal sex, so we'll call it a victory for Republicans with the swing voters. Grade: B

RNC 3: The Wrath of Zell

Zell-out: The Wilkie story was good. Pedestrian speech. Surreal as well. Who wrote this? Good slaps at Kerry. Weapons system votes hurt Kerry. "Wrong, weak, wobbly hurts as well. Grade: B (on the strength of the Kerry shots)

Lynne Cheney-Nothing special here. Generic intro. grade: N/A

Pork chop-Nice Edwards joke about sex appeal. "Vibrant growing economy" heh. Cadence was weird. Boring laundry list of achievements. Anti Kerry sensitive joke was good. Kerry takes a beating but still a lukewarm speech though. grade: B-

Overall: "Flip flop" was tiresome. Zell was surreal. Did anyone see him challenge Matthews to a duel? J.C. Watts was cracking up on the Hardball set. But getting Zell to the front page is a good move by Republicans. Kerry still hasn't answered the specifics given in this night and it's killing him. grade:B+/B

RNC Night 2-Compassionate Bugaloo

Roll Call-Why have these anymore? grade:D-

Random Ass question: Did anyone see that dude get tackled on Matthews?

Elizabeth Dole: "You have displayed peace that surpasses all understanding". (!!?) Turgid prose. Terrible speaking style (I think she was pausing for applause). Pro-life, anti-same sex marriage rhetoric was tired (but I'm biased here). Pro-evangelical, anti-activist judges...bleh. Lots of cliches. grade: C+ (mostly for speaking style)

Ahnold: Nice funny jokes. "scrawny boy" (Filice shout-out). "American flag around shoulder". Is that proper treatment of the American flag? Nice breezy,personal speech. "Terminate terroism" is bleh. "Economic girlie men" is bleh also.Nice 2 Americas jab. The section on terrorists as haters was oddly ironic considering the surroundings. "They feel the pull of our freedom" was a good line. Good speech for swing voters. grade: B+ (A- w/o Arnoldisms).

Bushes: bad jokes about Arnold/Barbara Bush, grating, Barbara should have talked more, bad jokes, way too long, too much giggling. grade: C-

W-voice control was an issue. Was that a green screen? otherwise it was a sweet intro. grade: B+

Laura-cute early days description. Leave no Child Behind didn't address funding questions. I want a little more than RNC bites in a speech from the "compassionate" woman. What does "on the front lines of freedom" mean? She's not doing a persuasive speech she's doing hortatory speech. This won't sell anyone not drinking the Kool-Aid. grade: B

Overall: A bland night. Ahnold was the highlight. grade B/B-

Convention Night 1

Bloomberg-speech too long. Too much local history. Grade: C+

Frist-Didn't see. Too bad there was no floorfight.

Anthem-traditional approach to it. The 13 year old didn't have the best voice but its tough to sing. grade: B

Prayer-I'm not horribly worked up over this. I know some people view this as the end of civilization but we would expect our heads of state to go to official funerals and there is a Red Mass every year in Washington. That having been said the prayer could have been offensive, but I didn't see it. grade: n/a

Comedy sketch-This was even less funny than the last year of SNL. ouch. They just tried too hard. grade: F

Silver-Standard speech written by a White House flack. Good dig at those folks I call "Rights Heads" (Amnesty et al.) The delivery was terrible and there was way too much shouting which made the speech a little scary. grade: B-

Graham-Nice 2 Americas dig. Otherwise it was just plain bland. grade: C

McCain-Nice FDR quote, nice deference to him. Very effective speech. France, Moore digs were a bit much. The diplomacy dig was good. This speech was written by Noonan (I think she's a babe, but I've got problems).
grade: B+

9/11 tribute- Over the top. "These people weren't made heroes, they had virtue all along" The way it was uttered, I thought they should be canonized. Amazing Grace is always beautiful. grade: B-

Giuliani-best speaker of night (not the best speech) but the content was offensive when it wasn't the standard 9/11 speech. McCain's speech was better and I tend to disagree with him more. Highlights: War on Germany, Arafat, Italy, those namby pamby European cheese-eating surrender monkeys. Two Americas joke with flip flop joke is lethal for Kerry. grade: B

Overall: The Republicans kicked Kerry's ass tonight. This hurts him and keeps him from capitalizing on Bush's WTF (what the ^%#^@!) comment he made earlier in the day. grade: B

Convention Opinions

I will make posts concerning the RNC this week, after the speeches for the day are over.

Open Thread

Anyone that wants to discuss anything not mentioned, do so here.